Poor discipline on and off the pitch has become real cause for concern

THE 50th minute in the Aviva Stadium yesterday pretty much summed up Scotland’s Six Nations campaign on the pitch. Captain Stuart Hogg simply had to pass the ball to one of his support runners... but instead we missed out on a certain try.

And off the pitch there are wider issues to be addressed between Gregor Townsend (below), his staff and his squad. Without knowing all of the details, clearly there is a disconnect there just now if six players went out last weekend post-Rome when they were told not to.

We came into this tournament talking about a ‘golden generation’ who had built things up nicely since the 2019 World Cup — but over the last few weeks they just haven’t fired for whatever reason.

In all five matches, at times, they have shown what they are capable of, but they have not put together one full 80-minute performance. The accuracy and decision making was poor when it really mattered.

The perfect example of that was in Dublin when Hogg was bursting down the right and, with the full-back Hugo Keenan to beat, had he passed the ball inside to Sam Johnson or one of the other men in support, we would have had our second try of the day. It would have been game on.

Instead, he was tackled into touch — and it seemed pretty clear that he wanted to score himself after the tough time he has had since the details of his night out in Edinburgh eight days ago came to light.

It is something I drill into the youngsters I coach: always look out for the support players and use them if it is the best option.

He may have felt like he could stretch and score in the corner, but you have to be 100 per cent sure. On such things games swing, and from there Ireland started to take control again and scored two further tries.

In terms of the positives, Rory Darge has been a great find and has shown that he can play back-row at Test level. Pierre Schoeman has also come in at loosehead prop and done well, while Matt Fagerson and Darcy Graham can be happy with their campaigns. Sadly, not many others can say the same.

Before the England game in early February everyone in Scotland was talking about the positives around this squad and the strength-in-depth we were building leading into next year’s World Cup.

Fast forward a few weeks and the majority of things being talked about are negatives.

I think many of the fans, quite rightly, feel let down by the players who supposedly broke team instructions and went out last Saturday — and I think that issue goes a lot deeper than a few players simply having a beer.

The fact is they did not do what they had all agreed, and the worrying thing is that three of the players involved — Hogg, Finn Russell and Ali Price — are British & Irish Lions and are at the forefront of the current Scotland leadership group.

Something has clearly gone wrong between the management and the playing group for leaders like that to make such a decision. I am sure there will now be a thorough review into what went on — and, more importantly, the culture as a whole because it just doesn’t seem quite right at the moment.

I am sure the 17 members of the 23-man squad who played against Italy and were sitting in their hotel rooms last Saturday night would have been pretty frustrated with the other six guys on Sunday. The build-up to the Ireland game must have been difficult, to say the least.

In any Test week you have to all be singing from the same hymn sheet whoever you are playing against, especially if you are heading away to Dublin to take on one of the best teams in the world.

I imagine the week would have been impacted by off-the-field issues and that is never helpful. It leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth for so many of us.

So, where do Scotland go from here?

Well, there are probably more questions than answers that have come out of this campaign and, as stated, there will need to be a thorough review into where things are at and what is exactly going wrong.

In the games, Scotland’s passing was just not as crisp as it was for large parts of 2020 and 2021 and the rising penalty count was cause for concern.

There are plenty of good players in this squad and, going forward, they can still look to compete with the best sides — but there will be a bit of soul searching to be done in the coming weeks by many.